


Help Me Help You

by diaanaprince



Category: Justice League (2017)
Genre: Acceptance, Angst, Emotional, Insecurity, Other, Sad Barry, Self-Acceptance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-03-02 05:43:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13311723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diaanaprince/pseuds/diaanaprince
Summary: He’s the weakest in a group of heroes.Why would anyone ever like him)





	1. Confess

* * *

They were just a group of people who had needed to come together and fight to save the world. Nothing less but possibly more. Being one of the youngest in the group with a mouth that could run for hours, Barry hoped that he’d at least be able to be friends with someone. They were scary in all honesty.

With one move, they could kill someone. With ease. It was far more than just intimidating.

And when he’d talk too much and they were all looking at him, he couldn’t determine their feelings about what he said that well. He felt smaller than ever before. He’d shrink and quietly excuse himself, trying to ignore the eyes still on him.

“It doesn’t matter,” he’d reassure himself as he walked away from the rest of the league, usually an awkward conversation or when they were talking about something that he unfortunately couldn’t keep up with.

“Who needs them? Not me, because I’m fine alone, I always am. I didn’t do anything wrong, I didn’t. I just talked. Too much... Like I always do.” He muttered.  
He’d wander off somewhere alone and be left alone with his thoughts. Definitely wasn’t the smartest or safest thing to do, but it was better than being judged by four other people who were so professional and seemed to know what they were doing.

He didn’t have anywhere else to go really. He didn’t have a steady source of income, so he went hungry some nights, which messed with the way his powers worked, which caused him to mess up and cause problems. But there wasn’t a solution.

Clark wasn’t included in the group of people who disliked him, because he liked Clark and Clark really liked him. He and Lois would have him over sometimes and found his jokes and ideas funny. And they weren’t faking, they really liked him. They’d have to reassure him that they did enjoy his company and to not beat himself up over the rest of the leagues ways.

“They’re just very serious people.” That’s way Clark always said.

Victor had only opened up to Diana really, and you could tell that he tried with Barry. When Barry would talk, he’d listen, but not always be sure how to respond to some things he said. When he’d continue to talk until he ran out of words it got confusing even for someone with the tech to work it out. Then again, Victor was a complex person as well, and the two could work together if they needed to, but outside of work, not really.

Arthur was tricky. He opened up over time to some of the members and even had a sense of humor. That was a go for Barry.

But there’s the problem.

His jokes weren’t necessarily funny to some people, just awkward. Arthur would look at him in a way that made him feel uncomfortable and more embarrassed than he already had. He’d sink in his seat or slouch in his position and try to resist the urge to speed away somewhere.

Bruce didn’t hate Barry. None of them did. In fact, no one even disliked Barry, they all liked him and understood that he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t sympathy though, they did like Barry. They had trouble showing it, and they didn’t know that it was affecting him. Bruce would help him train and talk to him like a normal person, Barry liked that.

But it really hurt his feelings more than he thought it should. He’d try to be friendly or nice, and they’d blow him off. Depending on what had just happened, they’d do it in different ways.

Diana had always done it politely. Then again, Diana kept to herself around Barry. She didn’t dislike him, she had problems of her own she needed to deal with. Diana cared about everyone even if she didn’t show it. Especially Barry. He had gone through just as much as her, and still maintained a happy attitude. She had no idea how he did it. But they weren’t as close as she wanted them to be. If she had been aware of how he really felt, maybe she would have taken the first step.

* * *

 

“Barry, we need to talk.” Barry was sitting on one of the couches. Bruce across from him, Diana next to Bruce. Arthur was leaned against the wall as well as Victor and Clark sat not too far from Barry’s side. He didn’t know they were going to do it now, but he had an idea of what they were going to say. Something alone the lines of ‘we don’t need your help anymore’, or ‘we’ve found a replacement.’

“Calm down, you’re not in trouble.” His thoughts must have made themselves clear through his expression, because Victor spoke up for once.

“Oh. I just thought, you know, that you were going to kick me out. I got that a lot.” Diana frowned and looked at Bruce. His expression matched hers, and you could see the guilt in his eyes. “They just throw my- Wait, am I getting kicked off?” He asked, tempted to run away then but Clark shook his head before Barry could get the wrong idea.

“No, Barry. We wanted to know why you’re being different.” Oh. That.

He was struggling. Not only with his life outside of the league but being there in general. Compared to everyone else, he felt worthless. Diana looked at him worryingly when he didn’t answer right away.

“I have stuff going on, not a lot of stuff, but enough to like, well let me not say that. I just mean that it’s too much to-“

“Do you need help?” The way Arthur said it made him slump down a little out of embarrassment. When everyone saw how that made him feel, they glared at Arthur, who had then realized that he’d gone too far. “No, I don’t mean it like that. I mean is there something, I dunno, we can do?” Barry didn’t want to answer that. He had problems, but them knowing his problems and having to deal with them would make him the problem. They sat in silence for a few more moments before Bruce started talking again.

“Barry I know you’re struggling. Lois and Clark told me.” He looked up at Clark with a hurt expression and Diana looked at Barry in confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

“If you needed food, a place to stay, clothes, why didn’t you tell us something?” All eyes went back to Barry, and everyone had different thing running through their head at that point. Mostly surprise, they didn’t know he was struggling in that way. He still didn’t say anything, his urge to just run was growing and Clark could tell.

“Barry,” he started. “We want to help you. We can’t if you don’t tell us what’s going on.”

“It’s not like you guys would care anyways.” He mumbled and stood up to walk away. Clark pulled him back down, not roughly, just firm enough to let him know that he needed to stay.

“Barry what are you-“

“I try, okay? I try to stop talking when you guys clearly don’t want to, and I try to respect that you don’t want anything to do with me, but you’re the ones who called me here.” He was getting emotional. “I try to be nice, and offer to do things, and spend time with people,” for the last part he looked at Diana who’s confused frown turned to a sad one. “But I get blown off, constantly! What’s the point of being here if you can all handle this yourselves?” Another moment of silence. “So no, I can’t afford food some nights and I have to go to Clark, so no, I can’t be as graceful and in control as you guys, so what do you want? Me to be silent?”

“Barry, we-“

“Oh great. I guess I’m more of a burden now.” He said in a genuinely sad tone as he stood up and started to walk away, he didn’t want to say anything else, even though he could have.

Everyone else was just sitting there in silence.

“Nice going, now he’s mad.” Arthur groaned and Victor shook his head.

“He’s not mad. He’s hurt. He doesn’t have anybody else and we weren’t helping.”


	2. Walk with me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi babies!! I haven’t been on here and I almost started crying when I saw some comments, so I’m here with this. I’m gonna start finishing some series I have and start some more. I’m sorry I’ve been gone. I love you.

“He really goes to you for food Clark?” Diana asked in her usual stern but now worried tone. “And he was hiding that from us?”

 

“When he doesn’t have any, it effects the way he runs. That’s why he’s been getting hurt in training more. Lois and I have him over but he usually declines because he feels guilty.” They stayed silent again.

 

“It’s not my fault,” Arthur held his hands up in defense, it was the first time he’d said anything since the remark that sparked Barry to get so emotional in the first place. “I talk to the kid.”

 

“And half the time it’s you saying something rude.” Diana grumbled and before he could argue he realized she had a point.

 

And a good one at that.

 

“And you’re the only one out of us besides Clark that he actually likes. Yet you never spend time with him.” She stayed quiet as Bruce pointed that out. She gave him a glare but it softened as he continued. “When I first introduced you to him, he was almost too excited to speak. I’m sure means he tries to spend time with people, pretty sure he meant you.”

 

“I don’t dislike him.” Victor threw in. “He says some weird-“

 

“Some weird shit? Yeah. We know.”

“That’s beside the point, Arthur.” Clark waved his hand, dismissing the matter. “The problem now is that we don’t know where he is, and now that we all know that he’s going through things, we need to help.”

 

“He’s not going to want to talk to anybody. How are we supposed to let him know we want to?” They stayed silent for a moment before Diana stood up and walked away silently. “Diana?”

 

“Don’t follow me.” She called backwards without stopping. If someone who didn’t know her had heard her say it, they probably would have taken offense.

 

She simply meant she could handle it herself.

 

* * *

 

 

“Barry.” There was no emotion in her voice. The words just, came out. That’s it. “Can I talk to you?”

 

He was just standing there, trying to calm himself down and decide whether he actually wanted to face this or to just walk away for a while and hopefully come back better and pretend like nothing happened.

 

Yeah. The second option sounded pleasing.

 

So he tried to walk away.

 

“Barry, stop.”

 

“Stop what? I caused a problem, I’m leaving. I’m the problem. So doesn’t that mean if I leave, I fix it?” He turned at the last few words, and he felt a jolt in his chest to see the concerned expression spread on Diana’s face, completed with her biting her lip and her posture less fixed as usual. “I’ll just leave.”

 

“You are not a problem, Barry.” Slowly, he could identify the emotion seeping into her words. “I’m sorry. I know that I don’t come off as the nicest person at first.”

 

“Okay.” He turned back around. “Now I know. That doesn’t mean-”

 

“We don’t hate you. We all have our own battles, like you do. We were all like you once in our lives, and we still have that in us some days.” She touched his shoulder, it not only was holding him in place, but it was sort of soothing to him in a way. “Our battles, they... toughen us up.”

 

“And I haven’t been any help in those either.”

 

“I don’t mean our physical ones, Barry. I am talking about our minds. They change us, even in ways we don’t want to. They help us grow, and mature, and make us different people.” He turned around fully to face her again.

 

“Something that happened to me changed me in ways that I don’t always like to think about, and I don’t always think about how I treat people. That is part of my battle.” She looked down a little. “You’ve been through a hard battle with your parents, am I right.

 

“Yes.” He said lowly, and she sort of reached for his hand.

 

“And you’re making your way through that battle well, you’re still smiling, and laughing, right? It’s going to take time for us to open up and overcome that part of our fights so that we can.”

 

He stood silently, but Diana could still understand and tell that he was nowhere near okay with all of this.

 

“That doesn’t mean we have any excuse to treat you the way we did. And I’m very sorry that we did that without knowing.” He moved quickly to wipe his eye, hopefully fast enough for her not to see. “You do not have to hide from me, you know.”

 

“I don’t feel like anyone there cares. About anything but work, so I try not to talk about it. Because I don’t want to-”

 

“You do not want to be annoying?” He nods, and she moves her hand from his to his back. “Will you talk to me? Now that you know that I care?”

 

After a few seconds of silence, a few seconds of decision making, and a couple seconds of holding on some more tears, he nodded again.

 

“Okay. Walk with me for a while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi babies!! I haven’t been on here and I almost started crying when I saw some comments, so I’m here with this. I’m gonna start finishing some series I have and start some more. I’m sorry I’ve been gone. I love you.

**Author's Note:**

> This will only have two pars, enjoy


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